IDEC Sport Racing Confirms Ligier JSP217 Purchase

IDEC Sport Racing manager Jean-Noel Legall discusses the French team's 2016 season and its projects for 2017

24 September 2016, 6:05 PM

Jean-Noel, how do you feel about your 2016 season so far?
“Ever since we entered the ELMS championship, we knew that our first year would be one to learn. It’s very challenging to get a handle on this championship and manage an LMP2 car at the same time. In the end, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished this season. So far, our weekend in Spa has been quite tough. We had an engine failure during FP2 and didn’t qualify very well as a result of that. I hope we’ll have better fortune during the race. We obviously can’t aim for overall victory or a podium, but I believe we can capture fourth or fifth position.”

I guess you will have different ambitions for 2017?
“We thought at some point about having two cars in 2017, but we quickly realised that it would be hard to manage. In the end, we’ll have one car and aim for greater performance during our second season. We’ve just purchased a Ligier JS P217 that will be delivered to us next February. The car is radically different from the JSP2: different engine, different chassis, different gearbox. Again, we’ll need some time to adapt. Once we comprehend how the car works, we’ll undoubtedly target better results.”

IDEC Sport Racing is currently committed to three championships (24H Series, ELMS, VdeV). Will you keep a similar program for 2017?
“We’ve not decided yet what we’ll do in that respect. What we know right now is that we want to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and focus on the ELMS in 2017. It’s a change, as our focus this year was on the 24H Series. What we also know is that two of our drivers will be Paul and Patrice Lafargue. We’ll also recruit a professional driver and discussions in that respect are under way.”